Two hundred copies of the first volume of Journey to the West were placed in front of Ji Yun'an and Chen Xiaocai, which they had just acquired.
After Chen Xiaocai arrived, he acquired a bookstore that was about to go bankrupt and printed Journey to the West. To ensure secrecy, Ji Yun'an replaced all the people in the bookstore with his own people.
"Alright, the goods are here. We'll take them to Yunxuan Teahouse to sell tomorrow."
Ji Yun'an pondered the story of Journey to the West, which had been told for several days and should have gained quite a few supporters.
Many people are eager to know the details of the story, and at this point, selling the book should be possible.
Chen Xiaocai said with some anticipation, "I hope we can sell them all."
Ji Yun'an said confidently, "It's definitely possible."
Chen Xiaocai and Ji Yun'an took the book to the teahouse to find Zhao He. When they arrived, they saw Zhao He arguing with a middle-aged man. Zhao He impatiently ordered his men to drag the man out.
A crowd had gathered around the teahouse. Several people mocked the middle-aged man after he was kicked out. Enraged by the ridicule, the man slunk away.
When Zhao He saw Ji Yun'an and Chen Xiaocai approaching, he gave them a warm smile and said, "You two have arrived."
Zhao He is currently riding high. His story of Sun Wukong has not only won the hearts of many ordinary people, but also the favor of many influential figures.
His teahouse was a mid-to-low-end establishment, usually catering to minor officials and wealthy merchants. However, things had changed these past few days. Because this story was unique to their establishment, many dignitaries had come to listen. The private rooms, which were usually idle, were now packed every day.
Zhao He even spotted several eunuchs among the audience. These eunuchs might not have come to listen for their own sake, but rather to tell the stories to the nobles in the palace.
Zhao He had already found out that the first teahouse Ji Yun'an approached was not theirs, but several high-end teahouses in Kyoto. However, the people at those teahouses did not trust Ji Yun'an and refused him. Now, the owners of those teahouses seemed to be regretting it.
Upon learning this, Zhao He became even more smug, feeling that he had a keen eye for talent and exceptional insight.
"Boss Zhao, who is that?"
Zhao He curled his lip and said with a sullen face, "An ingrate. He was our shop's original storyteller."
This storyteller was originally trained by him, and he thought he had treated the guy well. But after the guy became famous, he went to his rival's side and shamelessly said that he had only stayed in his shop for the past few years out of friendship, and that it was a waste of his talent to stay in his teahouse.
Having spent so much effort, only to raise such an ungrateful wretch, Zhao He was furious. Putting aside the issue of the store's profits, this guy's actions had greatly humiliated him. Previously, because of that person's defection, he had been ridiculed by many people, and many friends joked that he couldn't judge people well and couldn't even control his subordinates.
His teahouse has been packed every day lately, business is booming. His rival's teahouse is suffering, people are all coming to his teahouse, so naturally the rival's business is bad. His rival also has a bad temper. Seeing that his teahouse is not doing well, he took his anger out on that traitor. He spent a lot of money to poach him, and then just threw him away.
The other teahouses knew about this man's betrayal and were unwilling to employ him. So, that guy shamelessly came back to him to pledge his loyalty. But how could he possibly employ someone like that again?
"Is this the first volume?" Knowing that Chen Xiaocai and Ji Yun'an were bringing books to the teahouse, Zhao He had been waiting for a long time.
Mr. Zhao, we're starting to sell books tomorrow. We hope your storyteller can say a few words for us.
Zhao He flipped through the book and found that most of the stories had already been told, but the later ones hadn't been told yet. "Of course."
Zhao He took out four hundred taels of silver, divided it into two portions, and handed them to Chen Xiaocai and Ji Yun'an. "Boss Zhao, what are you doing? Young Master Ji, please don't refuse. This is your share of the profits. Without your story, my teahouse wouldn't have been able to revive. Besides, my teahouse has had quite a few distinguished guests recently, which is a valuable intangible asset." His father had recently praised him for his abilities.
Ji Yun'an was indeed short of money, so he didn't stand on ceremony with Zhao He. Their agreement already included a profit-sharing clause.
Ji Yun'an and Zhao He discussed it and decided to sell the first volume of Journey to the West for one tael of silver per book.
The books were sold out within an hour, with many people buying a dozen or twenty copies at a time. Chen Xiaocai was initially worried that too many copies had been printed, but seeing the situation, he decided to print another batch.
At Zhao He's invitation, Chen Xiaocai and Ji Yun'an sat in the teahouse for a while.
Hearing the cheers from the crowd below, Chen Xiaocai couldn't help but feel excited.
“This story is really popular,” Ji Yun’an said.
Chen Xiaocai nodded, thinking to himself: There are so many people in Kyoto who have nothing better to do than sit in teahouses all day long. If this were Shaxian, no one would be so bored as to sit in a teahouse all day listening to stories.
Chen Xiaocai murmured, "Brother Lin said that business is good in Kyoto." Brother Lin was indeed very prescient. Chen Xiaocai came out of the teahouse, still somewhat confused.
Just now, when he was selling books in the teahouse, a bunch of people rushed over to grab them, which startled Chen Xiaocai.
"Hey guys, what a coincidence!" Ji Yun'an and Chen Xiaocai were walking down the street when a man in fine clothes blocked their way.
Chen Xiaocai recognized the man as the manager of Yunhu Teahouse. A few days ago, when they went to find him, they were kicked out. The waiter in the shop was arrogant and said some very unpleasant things.
The man blocking their way now must have regretted it. In fact, this wasn't the first time they'd been stopped in the past two days. Several teahouse owners had similar purposes, but the two of them had refused them all.
Ji Yun'an stepped forward and negotiated with the teahouse owner. Compared to Chen Xiaocai, Ji Yun'an had more experience dealing with these people. Because he had made a prior agreement with Boss Zhao, Ji Yun'an refused the owner's request.
Chen Xiaomai ate the pastries with bright eyes. The pastries in front of Chen Xiaomai were bought from the street by Ji Yun'an.
"Second brother, there are so many delicious things to eat in Kyoto," Chen Xiaomai said.
Chen Xiaocai nodded. "There are plenty of delicious foods in Kyoto, and even more wealthy people."
"Xiaomai, how much did these pastries cost?" Chen Xiaocai asked casually.
“This box costs one tael of silver, I heard it from the servant in my household,” Chen Xiaomai said.
Chen Xiaocai twitched and said, "Robbery!"
Chen Xiaomai said sullenly, "It is a bit expensive, but Brother Ji said that's how prices are in Kyoto."
Chen Xiaomai sighed. Although he had made a lot of money, he still couldn't change his mindset in a short time. No wonder those rich young masters in the capital thought he was a country bumpkin who lacked cultural depth. In any case, business in the capital was indeed easy. No wonder Lu Lin had sent him to the capital to make a fortune. It was indeed very easy to make money. The books that cost two taels of silver each were sold out in one go.
"Things are still cheaper in Shaxian," Chen Xiaocai said.
Chen Xiaomai nodded and said, "Actually, these pastries aren't as good as the ones I make." As she spoke, Chen Xiaomai finished the pastries.
Looking at Chen Xiaomai's chubby cheeks, Chen Xiaocai thought to herself: Spend it, spend it, as long as I earn more than I spend.
Chen Xiaocai counted on her fingers, calculating how much money she could earn when the contract expired, and as she did so, she felt that the future looked bright.
Chen Xiaocai made a rough estimate and thought he should be able to bring back 1,000 taels of silver on this trip, which would definitely give Shen Chi a shock.
Chen Xiaocai suddenly remembered a sentence Lu Lin had just said: "Don't let poverty limit your imagination." Sometimes Chen Xiaocai felt that Lu Lin was a bit crazy and often muttered things that he couldn't understand at all. But now, Chen Xiaocai seemed to have a bit of an understanding. Chen Xiaocai suddenly felt that Lu Lin was indeed very powerful!
"Second Brother, you said you're going out to do business. Is business easy? Is it profitable?" Chen Xiaomai asked.
Chen Xiaocai nodded and said, "Yes, I made money, a lot of money."
Many farmers in Shaxian County were starving, and they would stretch every copper coin to its limit. In contrast, in the capital, many people were born into wealth and luxury, and would spare no expense to spend thousands of taels of silver just to have a night with a courtesan.
Seeing the storybooks being snapped up today, and the scene of people rushing back afterward only to be disappointed at not being able to buy them, Chen Xiaocai couldn't help but feel a bit complicated.
Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste, while on the roads, frozen corpses lie!
Chen Xiaomai said excitedly, "That's great, Second Brother! You've made money! You have to buy me lots of good food!" Chen Xiaocai smiled and said, "Okay."
Ji Chengkang looked at Ji Yun'an with a strange expression and said, "Did you come up with that story about Sun Wukong?" After Ji Chengkang returned, he had been very busy contacting academies for Ji Yun'an. He did not expect that Ji Yun'an would become famous in the blink of an eye.
Ji Chengkang heard about Ji Yun'an from a friend, who said that Ji Yun'an had recently been selling storybooks and must have made a lot of money.
Some people even wanted him to help them, hoping to use connections to buy the middle and lower volumes of the book in advance.
Ji Chengkang initially thought his friend was being ridiculous, that it was just a storybook and he was so concerned about it.
As a result, one after another, people tried to get in through his connections, which stunned Ji Chengkang.
Ji Chengkang never expected that the charm of a story could be so great that some of his usually reserved and self-respecting friends would come to him for help.
Ji Yun'an nodded and said, "Yes." Ji Yun'an took out three hundred taels of silver and showed it to Ji Chengkang.
Ji Chengkang's lips twitched slightly as he looked at it. "So many."
Ji Chengkang thought to himself: Ji Yun'an has only been back for a few days, and he has already earned several hundred taels of silver. Even a large trading company under the Ji family only earns a little over two hundred taels of silver a year.
Ji Yun'an nodded and said, "This is the first batch of silver. We'll sell another batch in a few days."
Ji Chengkang looked at Ji Yun'an with some suspicion. "Who told you this story? I heard that you wrote it?" Ji Yun'an shook his head and said, "It was Lord Lu who told it. I was just responsible for recording it. However, Lord Lu said that he didn't come up with this story either. He heard it from an old man in the mountains."
"And what about the old man?"
He passed away a few years ago.
Ji Chengkang sighed, "It's a pity about how you and Chen Xiaocai split the profits."
"Half for me, half for him."
Ji Chengkang said somewhat awkwardly, "We took too much."
Ji Chengkang is not used to taking advantage of others. Since Lu Lin told this story, they shouldn't have taken the lion's share.
Ji Yun'an nodded and said, "I think so too. However, I discussed this profit sharing with Lord Lu before the trip. Lord Lu said that if I didn't want it, I could use the money as military funds, as if it were a donation from him, and they would only need half."
Ji Chengkang was taken aback for a moment and said, "Used as military supplies? This Lord Lu is truly a rare good official!" Ji Yun'an's expression became somewhat strange. Lu Lin was not exactly an incorruptible official, but he was not a corrupt one either. Ji Yun'an suddenly remembered what Chen Xiaomai had said before: a good official is one who can lead the people below to get rich, fatten himself up, and then fatten the villagers up as well.
Ji Yun'an initially thought this was nonsense, but now he suddenly felt that it seemed to make some sense.
Looking at the silver in front of him, Ji Yun'an suddenly felt that Lu Lin had become unfathomable. Money is not everything, but you can't do anything without it. Ji Yun'an knew that Ji Chengkang had been trying to arrange a good academy for him recently, but had been turned away many times, which was also related to money.
Ji Yun'an initially thought Lu Lin's words were full of money, but now he felt they made a lot of sense. No matter what, having money is always a good thing.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
